8 Ways of Looking at a Swingset

I wrote this for a school project, inspired by a poem called "13 Ways of Looking at Blackbird."

1. Among the entire playground, The only thing moving was the swings Rocking gently in the windâ€™s soft spring breath 2. As the child hoisted himself onto the swing, It transformed into a pirate ship Shooting canons left and right as it sailed into the sky 3. Swings and slides are one Swings, slides, and children are one 4. The swings hung in the air limply, Abandoned by an embarrassed teenager He had moved on from his days playing in the swings Why? 5. The rain distorts the swings image Through the window streaked with water Falling glass beads keeping the college graduate from revisiting his childhood When did he get too big to play, he wonders. 6. The wood is rotting. The swingset must come down. 7. A patch of dirt settles over the soft, green canvas Where a swingset once stood It might be rebuilt, someday 8. The man gently pushes his son On a swingset made of sturdier, more with-standing metal Built just last year He misses the splintery wood, for a second, But the metal is better, he decides. And besides, itâ€™s still a swingset

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